Dresden has a long history as the capital and royal residence for the Electors and Kings of Saxony, who for centuries furnished the city with cultural and artistic splendor. The city was known as the Jewel Box, because of its baroque and rococo city center. The controversial British and American bombing of Dresden in World War II towards the end of the war killed approximately 25,000, many of whom were civilians, and destroyed the entire city center. The bombing gutted the city, as it did for other major German cities. After the war restoration work has helped to reconstruct parts of the historic inner city, including the Katholische Hofkirche, the Semper Oper and the Dresdner Frauenkirche as well as the suburbs.

Early history[edit]

Around the late 12th century, a Slavic settlement called Drežďany[6] had developed on the southern bank. Another settlement existed on the northern bank, but its Slavic name is unclear. It was known as Antiqua Dresdin by 1350, and later as Altendresden,[6][7] both literally "old Dresden". Dietrich, Margrave of Meissen, chose Dresden as his interim residence in 1206, as documented in a record calling the place "Civitas Dresdene".

After 1270, Dresden became the capital of the margraviate. It was restored to the Wettin dynasty in about 1319. From 1485, it was the seat of the dukes of Saxony, and from 1547 the electors as well.

During the 19th century the city became a major center of economy, including motor car production, food processing, banking and the manufacture of medical equipment.

In the early 20th century Dresden was particularly well known for its camera works and its cigarette factories. Between 1918 and 1934 Dresden was capital of the first Free State of Saxony. Dresden was a center of European modern art until 1933.

Military history[edit]

During the foundation of the German Empire in 1871, a large military facility called Albertstadt was built.[9] It had a capacity of up to 20,000 military personnel at the beginning of the First World War. The garrison saw only limited use between 1918 and 1934, but was then reactivated in preparation for the Second World War.

Its usefulness was limited by attacks on 17 April 1945[10] on the railway network (especially towards Bohemia).[11] Soldiers had been deployed as late as March 1945 in the Albertstadt garrison.

Dresden in the 20th century was a major communications hub and manufacturing center until its destruction on 13 February 1945. Being the capital of the German state of Saxony, Dresden not only had garrisons but a whole military borough, the Albertstadt. This military complex, named after Saxon King Albert, was not specifically targeted in the bombing of Dresden though it was within the expected area of destruction.

During the final months of World War II, Dresden became a haven to some 600,000 refugees, with a total population of 1.2 million. Dresden was attacked seven times between 1944 and 1945, and was occupied by the Red Army after German capitulation.

The inner city of Dresden was largely destroyed by 722 RAF and 527 USAAF bombers that dropped 2431 tons of high explosive bombs, and 1475.9 tons of incendiaries.[12] The high explosive bombs damaged buildings and exposed their wooden structures, while the incendiaries ignited them, severely reducing the number of shelters available to the retreating German troops and refugees. The bombing raid on Dresden destroyed almost all of the ancient center of the city[13] in three waves of attacks. Widely quoted Nazi propaganda reports claimed 200,000 deaths. The German Dresden Historians' Commission, in an official 2010 report published after five years of research concluded that casualties numbered up to 25,000, while right-wing groups continue to claim that up to 500,000 people died.[14] The inhabited city center was almost wiped out, while larger residential, industrial and military sites on the outskirts were relatively unscathed. The Allies described the operation as the legitimate bombing of a military and industrial target.[10] A report from the British Bomber Command stated the military target was the railway marshaling yard Dresden-Friedrichstadt. Prime Minister Winston Churchill later distanced himself from the attack, even though he was heavily involved with the planning of the raid. Several researchers have argued that the February attacks were disproportionate. Mostly women and children died.[15]

American author Kurt Vonnegut's novel Slaughterhouse Five is loosely based on his first-hand experience of the raid as a POW. In remembrance of the victims, the anniversaries of the bombing of Dresden are marked with peace demonstrations, devotions and marches.[16][17]

Post-war period[edit]

After the Second World War, Dresden became a major industrial center in the German Democratic Republic (former East Germany) with a great deal of research infrastructure. Many important historic buildings were rebuilt, including the Semper Opera House, the Zwinger Palace and a great many other historic buildings, although the city leaders chose to reconstruct large areas of the city in a "socialist modern" style, partly for economic reasons, but also to break away from the city's past as the royal capital of Saxony and a stronghold of the German bourgeoisie. However, some of the bombed-out ruins of churches, royal buildings and palaces, such as the Gothic Sophienkirche, the Alberttheater and the Wackerbarth-Palais were razed by the Soviet and East German authorities in the 1950s and 1960s instead of being repaired. Compared to West Germany, the majority of historic buildings were saved[citation needed].

From 1985 to 1990, the KGB stationed Vladimir Putin, the future President of Russia, in Dresden. On 3 October 1989 (the so-called "battle of Dresden"), a convoy of trains carrying East German refugees from Prague passed through Dresden on its way to the Federal Republic of Germany. Local activists and residents joined in the growing civil disobedience movement spreading across the German Democratic Republic by staging demonstrations and demanding the removal of the nondemocratic government.

Post-reunification[edit]

Dresden has experienced dramatic changes since the reunification of Germany in the early 1990s. The city still bears many wounds from the bombing raids of 1945, but it has undergone significant reconstruction in recent decades. Restoration of the Dresden Frauenkirche was completed in 2005, a year before Dresden's 800th anniversary, notably by privately raised funds. The gold cross on the top of the church was paid for and donated by the City of Edinburgh as a mark of the bond between the two cities. The urban renewal process, which includes the reconstruction of the area around the Neumarkt square on which the Frauenkirche is situated, will continue for many decades, but public and government interest remains high, and there are numerous large projects underway—both historic reconstructions and modern plans—that will continue the city's recent architectural renaissance.

Dresden remains a major cultural center of historical memory, owing to the city's destruction in World War II. Each year on 13 February, the anniversary of the British and American fire-bombing raid that destroyed most of the city, tens of thousands of demonstrators gather to commemorate the event. Since reunification, the ceremony has taken on a more neutral and pacifist tone (after being used more politically during the Cold War). Beginning in 1999, white nationalists have organized Neo-Nazi demonstrations in Dresden that have been among the largest in the post-war history of Germany. Each year around the anniversary of the city's destruction, members of the far-right convened in the memory of those who died in the fire-bombing. In 2010, anti-fascists protesters clashed with police in an attempt to prevent the march from taking place. These efforts have been successful in marginalizing the far-right's demonstrations, and have been repeated each year since.

The completion of the reconstructed Dresden Frauenkirche in 2005 marked the first step in rebuilding the Neumarkt area. The areas around the square have been divided into 8 "Quarters", with each being rebuilt as a separate project, the majority of buildings to be rebuilt either to the original structure or at least with a façade similar to the original. Quarter I and the front section of Quarters II, III, IV and V(II) have since been completed, with Quarter VIII currently under construction.

In 2002, torrential rains caused the Elbe to flood 9 metres (30 ft) above its normal height, i.e., even higher than the old record height from 1845, damaging many landmarks (See 2002 European flood). The destruction from this "millennium flood" is no longer visible, due to the speed of reconstruction.

The United Nations' cultural organization UNESCO declared the Dresden Elbe Valley to be a World Heritage Site in 2004.[18] After being placed on the list of endangered World Heritage Sites in 2006, the city lost the title in June 2009,[19][20] due to the construction of the Waldschlößchenbrücke, making it only the second ever World Heritage Site to be removed from the register.[19][20] UNESCO stated in 2006 that the bridge would destroy the cultural landscape. The city council's legal moves meant to prevent the bridge from being built failed.[21][22]

The Dresden Elbe Valley was an internationally recognized site of cultural significance by the UNESCOWorld Heritage Committee for five years. After being placed on the list of endangered World Heritage Sites in 2006, the city had its status as world heritage site formally removed in June 2009, for the willful breach of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, due to the construction of a highway bridge across the valley within 2 km (1 mi) of the historic center. It thereby became the first location ever in Europe to lose this status, and the second ever in the world.[23]

Geography[edit]

Location[edit]

Dresden lies on both banks of the Elbe River, mostly in the Dresden Basin, with the further reaches of the eastern Ore Mountains to the south, the steep slope of the Lusatian granitic crust to the north, and the Elbe Sandstone Mountains to the east at an altitude of about 113 metres (371 feet). Triebenberg is the highest point in Dresden at 384 metres (1,260 feet).[24]

With a pleasant location and a mild climate on the Elbe, as well as Baroque-style architecture and numerous world-renowned museums and art collections, Dresden has been called "Elbflorenz" (Florence of the Elbe). The incorporation of neighbouring rural communities over the past 60 years has made Dresden the fourth largest urban district by area in Germany after Berlin, Hamburg, and Cologne.[25]

The nearest German cities are Chemnitz 80 kilometres (50 miles) to the southwest, Leipzig 100 kilometres (62 miles) to the northwest and Berlin 200 kilometres (120 miles) to the north. Prague, Czech Republic is about 150 kilometres (93 miles) to the south and to the east 200 kilometres (120 miles) is the Polish city of Breslau/ Wrocław.

Nature[edit]

Dresden is one of the greenest cities in all of Europe, with 63% of the city being green areas and forests. The Dresden Heath (Dresdner Heide) to the north is a forest 50 km2 in size. There are four nature reserves. The additional Special Conservation Areas cover 18 km2. The protected gardens, parkways, parks and old graveyards host 110 natural monuments in the city.[26] The Dresden Elbe Valley is a former world heritage site which is focused on the conservation of the cultural landscape in Dresden. One important part of that landscape is the Elbe meadows, which cross the city in a 20 kilometre swath. Saxon Switzerland is an important nearby location.

Climate[edit]

Dresden has an oceanic climate (Cfb), influenced by its inland location, with average summers and slightly colder winters compared to the German average. The average temperature in January is 0.1 °C (32.18 °F) and in July 19.0 °C (66.2 °F). The driest months are February, March and April, with precipitation of around 40 mm (1.6 in). The wettest months are July and August, with more than 80 mm (3.1 in) per month.

Flood protection[edit]

Because of its location on the banks of the Elbe, into which some water sources from the Ore Mountains flow, flood protection is important. Large areas are kept free of buildings to provide a flood plain. Two additional trenches, about 50 metres wide, have been built to keep the inner city free of water from the Elbe, by dissipating the water downstream through the inner city's gorge portion. Flood regulation systems like detention basins and water reservoirs are almost all outside the city area.

The Weißeritz, normally a rather small river, suddenly ran directly into the main station of Dresden during the 2002 European floods. This was largely because the river returned to its former route; it had been diverted so that a railway could run along the river bed.

Many locations and areas need to be protected by walls and sheet pilings during floods. A number of districts become waterlogged if the Elbe overflows across some of its former floodplains.

Dresden is a spacious city. Its districts differ in their structure and appearance. Many parts still contain an old village core, while some quarters are almost completely preserved as rural settings. Other characteristic kinds of urban areas are the historic outskirts of the city, and the former suburbs with scattered housing. During the German Democratic Republic, many apartment blocks were built. The original parts of the city are almost all in the districts of Altstadt (Old town) and Neustadt (New town). Growing outside the city walls, the historic outskirts were built in the 18th century. They were planned and constructed on the orders of the Saxon monarchs, which is why the outskirts are often named after sovereigns. From the 19th century the city grew by incorporating other districts. Dresden has been divided into ten districts called "Ortsamtsbereich" and nine former boroughs ("Ortschaften") which have been incorporated.

Demographics[edit]

The population of Dresden grew to 100,000 inhabitants in 1852, making it the third German city to reach that number.[25] The population peaked at 649,252 in 1933, and dropped to 450,000 in 1946 because of World War II, during which large residential areas of the city were destroyed. After large incorporations and city restoration, the population grew to 522,532 again between 1950 and 1983.[29]

Since German reunification, demographic development has been very unsteady. The city has struggled with migration and suburbanization. During the 1990s the population increased to 480,000 because of several incorporations, and decreased to 452,827 in 1998. Between 2000 and 2010, the population grew quickly by more than 45,000 inhabitants (about 9.5%) due to a stabilized economy and re-urbanization. Along with Munich and Potsdam, Dresden is one of the ten fastest-growing cities in Germany,[25] while the population of the surrounding new federal states is still shrinking.[29][30]

As of 2010[update] the population of the city of Dresden was 523,058,[31] the population of the Dresden agglomeration was 780,561 as of 2008,[32] and as of 2007 the population of the Dresden region, which includes the neighbouring districts of Meißen, Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge and the western part of the district of Bautzen was 1,143,197.[33] Dresden is one of the few German Cities which has more inhabitants than ever since World War II.

As of 2006[update] about 51.3% of the population was female.[34] As of 2007[update] the mean age of the population was 43 years, which is the lowest among the urban districts in Saxony.[35] As of 31 December 2013[update] there were 43,707 people with a migration background (8.7% of the city's population), and about half, 25,224 or about 4.7% of all Dresden citizens were foreigners.[36] This percentage is almost the same as in 2006 with 4%.[34]

Governance[edit]

Dresden is one of Germany's 16 political centers and the capital of Saxony. It has institutions of democratic local self-administration that are independent from the capital functions.[37] Some local affairs of Dresden receive national attention.

Dresden hosted some international summits such as the Petersburg Dialogue between Russia and Germany, the European Union's Minister of the Interior conference and the G8 labor ministers conference in recent years.[citation needed]

Municipality and city council[edit]

The city council defines the basic principles of the municipality by decrees and statutes. The council gives orders to the "Bürgermeister" ("Burgomaster" or Mayor) by voting for resolutions and thus has some executive power.[38] As of 2008[update], there was no stable governing majority on Dresden city council (Stadtrat).[39]

As of 2014[update] the 70 seats of the city council were distributed as follows:[40]

The Supreme Burgomaster is directly elected by the citizens for a term of seven years. Executive functions are normally elected indirectly in Germany. However, the Supreme Burgomaster shares numerous executive rights with the city council. He/She is the executive head of the municipality, and also the ceremonial representative of the city. The main departments of the municipality are managed by seven burgomasters.[41]

Local affairs[edit]

Local affairs in Dresden often center around the urban development of the city and its spaces. Architecture and the design of public places is a controversial subject. Discussions about the Waldschlößchenbrücke, a bridge under construction across the Elbe, received international attention because of its position across the Dresden Elbe ValleyWorld Heritage Site. The city held a public referendum in 2005 on whether to build the bridge, prior to UNESCO expressing doubts about the compatibility between bridge and heritage. Its construction caused loss of World Heritage site status in 2009.[42]

Since October 2014, PEGIDA, a xenophobic political movement based in Dresden has been organizing weekly demonstrations against what it perceives as the Islamisation of Europe although the primarily Turkish peopleMuslims make up only 0.2% of the population of the city. As the number of demonstrators increased to 17,500 on December 22, so has the international media coverage of it.[44]

There are several choirs in Dresden, the best-known of which is the Dresdner Kreuzchor (Choir of The Holy Cross). It is a boys' choir drawn from pupils of the Kreuzschule, and was founded in the 13th century.[53] The Dresdner Kapellknaben are not related to the Staatskapelle, but to the former Hofkapelle, the Catholic cathedral, since 1980. The Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra is the orchestra of the city of Dresden.

Throughout the summer, the outdoor concert series "Zwingerkonzerte und Mehr" is held in the Zwingerhof. Performances include dance and music.[54]

A big event each year in June is the Bunte Republik Neustadt,[55] a culture festival lasting 3 days in the city district of Dresden-Neustadt. Bands play live concerts for free in the streets and people can find all kinds of refreshments and food.

Architecture[edit]

Although Dresden is often said to be a Baroque city, its architecture is influenced by more than one style. Other eras of importance are the Renaissance and Historism, as well as the contemporary styles of Modernism and Postmodernism.

Dresden has some 13 000 listed cultural monuments and eight districts under general preservation orders.[62]

Royal household[edit]

The royal buildings are among the most impressive buildings in Dresden. The Dresden Castle was the seat of the royal household from 1485. The wings of the building have been renewed, built upon and restored many times. Due to this integration of styles, the castle is made up of elements of the Renaissance, Baroque and Classicist styles.[63]

The Zwinger Palace is across the road from the castle. It was built on the old stronghold of the city and was converted to a center for the royal art collections and a place to hold festivals. Its gate by the moat, surmounted by a golden crown, is famous.[64]

Sacred buildings[edit]

The Hofkirche was the church of the royal household. Augustus the Strong, who desired to be King of Poland, converted to Catholicism, as Polish kings had to be Catholic. At that time Dresden was strictly Protestant. Augustus the Strong ordered the building of the Hofkirche, the Roman Catholic Cathedral, to establish a sign of Roman Catholic religious importance in Dresden. The church is the cathedral "Sanctissimae Trinitatis" since 1980. The crypt of the Wettin Dynasty is located within the church.[65]

In contrast to the Hofkirche, the Lutheran Frauenkirche was built almost contemporaneously by the citizens of Dresden. It is said to be the greatest cupola building in Central and Northern Europe. The city's historic Kreuzkirche was reconsecrated in 1388.[66]

Contemporary architecture[edit]

The locally controversial UFA-Palast

Dresden has been an important site for the development of contemporary architecture for centuries, and this trend has continued into the 20th and 21st centuries.

Historicist buildings made their presence felt on the cityscape until the 1920s sampled by public buildings such as the Staatskanzlei or the City Hall. One of the youngest buildings of that era is the Hygiene Museum, which is designed in an impressively monumental style, but employs plain façades and simple structures. It is often attributed, wrongly, to the Bauhaus school.

Most of the present cityscape of Dresden was built after 1945, a mix of reconstructed or repaired old buildings and new buildings in the modern and postmodern styles. Important buildings erected between 1945 and 1990 are the Centrum-Warenhaus (a large department store) representing the international style, the Kulturpalast, and several smaller and two bigger complexes of Plattenbau housing in Gorbitz, while there is also housing dating from the era of Stalinist architecture.

Other buildings[edit]

Other buildings include important bridges crossing the Elbe river, the Blaues Wunder bridge and the Augustusbrücke, which is on the site of the oldest bridge in Dresden.

There are about 300 fountains and springs, many of them in parks or squares. The wells serve only a decorative function, since there is a fresh water system in Dresden. Springs and fountains are also elements in contemporary cityspaces.

The most famous sculpture in Dresden is Jean-Joseph Vinache's golden equestrian sculpture of August the Strong called the Goldener Reiter (Golden Cavalier) on the Neustädter Markt square. It shows August at the beginning of the Hauptstraße (Main street) on his way to Warsaw, where he was King of Poland in personal union. Another sculpture is the memorial of Martin Luther in front of the Frauenkirche.

Dresden-Hellerau—Germany's first garden city[edit]

The Garden City of Hellerau, at that time a suburb of Dresden, was founded in 1909. In 1911 Heinrich Tessenow built the Hellerau Festspielhaus (festival theatre) and Hellerau became a center of modernism with international standing until the outbreak of World War I.

In 1950, Hellerau was incorporated into the city of Dresden. Today the Hellerau reform architecture is recognized as exemplary. In the 1990s, the garden city of Hellerau became a conservation area.

Living quarters[edit]

Dresden's urban parts are subdivided in rather a lot of city quarters, up to around 100, among them relatively many larger villa quarters dominated by historic multiple dwelling units, especially, but not only along the river, most known are Blasewitz, Loschwitz, Pillnitz and Weißer Hirsch. Also some Art Nouveau living quarters and two bigger quarters typical for communist architecture – but much renovated – can be found. The villa town of Radebeul joins the Dresden city tram system, which is expansive due to the lack of an underground system.

Cinemas and cinematics[edit]

There are several small theaters presenting cult films and low-budget or low-profile films chosen for their cultural value. Dresden also has a few multiplex cinemas, of which the Rundkino is the oldest.

Dresden has a large tramway network operated by Dresdner Verkehrsbetriebe, the municipal transport company. Because the geological bedrock does not allow the building of underground railways, the tramway is an important form of public transport. The Transport Authority operates twelve lines on a 200 km (124 mi) network.[67] Many of the new low-floor vehicles are up to 45 metres long and produced by Bombardier Transportation in Bautzen. While many of the system's lines are on reserved track (often sown with grass to avoid noise), many tracks still run on the streets, especially in the inner city.

The CarGoTram is a tram that supplies Volkswagen's Transparent Factory, crossing the city. The transparent factory is located not far from the city center next to the city's largest park.[68]

The districts of Loschwitz and Weisser Hirsch are connected by the Dresden Funicular Railway, which was opened on 26 October 1895.

Public utilities[edit]

Dresden is the capital of a German Land (federal state). It is home to the Landtag of Saxony[69] and the ministries of the Saxon Government. The controlling Constitutional Court of Saxony is in Leipzig. The highest Saxon court in civil and criminal law, the Higher Regional Court of Saxony, has its home in Dresden.[70]

Most of the Saxon state authorities are located in Dresden. Dresden is home to the Regional Commission of the Dresden Regierungsbezirk, which is a controlling authority for the Saxon Government. It has jurisdiction over eight rural districts, two urban districts and the city of Dresden.

Like many cities in Germany, Dresden is also home to a local court, has a trade corporation and a Chamber of Industry and Trade and many subsidiaries of federal agencies (such as the Federal Labour Office or the Federal Agency for Technical Relief). It also hosts some subdepartments of the German Customs and the eastern Federal Waterways Directorate.

Dresden is also home to a military subdistrict command but no longer has large military units as it did in the past. Dresden is the traditional location for army officer schooling in Germany, today carried out in the Offizierschule des Heeres.

Economy[edit]

Until famous enterprises like Dresdner Bank left Dresden in the communist era to avoid nationalisation, Dresden was one of the most important German cities, an important industrial center of the German Democratic Republic.[citation needed] The period of the GDR until 1990 was characterized by low economic growth in comparison to western German cities.[citation needed] In 1990 Dresden had to struggle with the economic collapse of the Soviet Union and the other export markets in Eastern Europe. After reunification enterprises and production sites broke down almost completely as they entered the social market economy, facing competition from the Federal Republic of Germany. After 1990 a completely new legal system and currency system was introduced and infrastructure was largely rebuilt with funds from the Federal Republic of Germany. Dresden as a major urban center has developed much faster and more consistently than most other regions in the former German Democratic Republic, but it still faces many social and economic problems stemming from the collapse of the former system, including high unemployment levels.[citation needed]

Between 1990 and 2010 the unemployment rate fluctuated between 13% and 15% and is still relatively high, with a low of 8.9% in May 2012.[71] Dresden has raised its GDP per capita to 31,100 euro, close to the GDP per capita of some West German communities (the average of the 50 biggest cities is around 35,000 euro).[72]

Thanks to the presence of public administration centers, a high density of semi-public research institutes and an extension of publicly funded high technology sectors, the proportion of highly qualified workers Dresden is again among the highest in Germany and by European criteria. Dresden regularly ranks among the best ten bigger cities in Germany to live in.[citation needed]

The pharmaceutical sector developed at the end of the 19th century. The 'Sächsisches Serumwerk Dresden' (Saxon Serum Plant, Dresden), owned by GlaxoSmithKline, is a global leader in vaccine production. Another traditional pharmaceuticals producer is Arzneimittelwerke Dresden (Pharmaceutical Works, Dresden).

Media[edit]

The media sector is not particularly strong in Dresden. Recently it sometimes benefits from the new interface with informatics so that it can gain transregional meaning beyond the semi-public science and upper culture sectors which often produce their media coverage in-house. The media in Dresden include two major newspapers of regional record: the Sächsische Zeitung (Saxonian Newspaper, circulation around 300,000) and the Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten (Dresden's Latest News, circulation around 50,000). Dresden has a broadcasting center belonging to the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. The Dresdner Druck- und Verlagshaus (Dresden printing plant and publishing house) produces part of Spiegel's print run, among other newspapers and magazines.

Hochschule für Bildende Künste Dresden

Education and science[edit]

Universities[edit]

Dresden is home to a number of renowned universities, but among German cities it is a more recent location for academic education.

Other universities include the "Hochschule für Kirchenmusik", a school specialising in church music, the "Evangelische Hochschule für Sozialarbeit", an education institution for social work. The "Dresden International University" is a private postgraduate university, founded a few years ago in cooperation with the Dresden University of Technology.

Dresden World Trade Center at night

Research institutes[edit]

Dresden also hosts many research institutes, some of which have gained an international standing. The domains of most importance are micro- and nanoelectronics, transport and infrastructure systems, material and photonic technology, and bio-engineering. The institutes are well connected among one other as well as with the academic education institutions.

The Fraunhofer Society hosts institutes of applied research that also offer mission-oriented research to enterprises. With eleven institutions or parts of institutes, Dresden is the largest location of the Fraunhofer Society worldwide.[75] The Fraunhofer Society has become an important factor in location decisions and is seen as a useful part of the "knowledge infrastructure".

The Leibniz Community is a union of institutes with science covering fundamental research and applied research. In Dresden there are three Leibniz Institutes. The "Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research"[76] and the "Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research"[77] are both in the material and high-technology domain, while the "Leibniz Institute for Ecological and Regional Development" is focused on more fundamental research into urban planning. Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf was member of the Leibniz Community till end of 2010.

Higher secondary education[edit]

Dresden has 21 Gymnasien which prepare for a tertiary education. Five are private. The "Sächsisches Landesgymnasium für Musik" with a focus on music is supported by the State of Saxony, rather than by the city. There are some Berufliche Gymnasien which combine vocational education and secondary education and a Abendgymnasium which prepares higher education of adults avocational.[78]